Association members say staff, direction issues behind Radoszewski's departure

While no official reason has been given for Tony Radoszewski's departure as CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, some members point to significant staff turnover and some signs of frustration among member companies about the direction of the organization.

The Washington-based association unexpectedly announced the change March 28, saying that Radoszewski's last day was March 25.

The chairman of the association's board said little about why the group made the sudden change, but some member companies pointed to news reports about sizable staff turnover.

"That was a really big thing — staff turnover, staff morale," said an executive at one member company who requested anonymity to discuss the change. "In my opinion, I just didn't see any progress being made with the association."

Radoszewski had a relatively short tenure, taking over as president and CEO in September 2019 after nearly 14 years as president of the Plastics Pipe Institute, a much smaller organization in Irving, Texas.

In 2020, he was paid $521,000 as the association's president and CEO, according to its most recent federal tax return. The group is required to publicly disclose its tax return to maintain nonprofit status.

Radoszewski did not respond to a request for comment.

The association, which has 850 member companies and is one of the industry's two-largest trade groups in Washington, had seen significant staff turnover in recent months, with its chief economist and heads of two key councils leaving, along with other staff.

As well, a few months in to Radoszewski's tenure, he restructured and removed several vice presidents and the chief operating officer, who had been on the leadership team of the previous CEO, Bill Carteaux, who died of leukemia in December 2018 at 59.

Another member company executive who is involved in the group pointed to problems managing staff and communicating with those companies.

"Tony, he didn't hold staff together, that's problem No. 1," the executive said. "There were a lot of members who were not happy with this for probably a year and a half or two years. He has not communicated well with members.

"[Tony] was the wrong person at the wrong time, they should have acted much sooner," the executive said.

The association and its leadership did not give any specific reason for parting ways with Radoszewski, neither in a statement nor an interview.

In a March 28 interview, Tad McGwire, chairman of the group's board, said Radoszewski led the association in a difficult time and thanked him for his leadership.

"At this point, I would just phrase it that he's no longer with PLASTICS [as the association calls itself]," he said. "We're grateful for Tony's efforts. He led the organization during a very difficult time. As of today, we're in great shape.

"There's no precipitous event that drove this," said McGwire, who is also president of Industrial Heater Corp. in Cheshire, Conn. "Again, there's not a lot of details for me to offer at this point."

McGwire said the group did not name an interim CEO but said it would be led by its executive leadership team, including Glenn Anderson, vice president of industry and member relations; Wayne Popham, chief financial officer; and Matt Seaholm, vice president of government affairs.

In a February interview to discuss the staff departures, Radoszewski said staff was leaving because of the "Great Resignation" as workers and companies adjusted to life changes from the pandemic.

He also suggested employees could be feeling an impact from the public pressure on plastic, saying it "takes a certain breed of person … to kind of dismiss the negative press we get."

Association leadership did not offer details on next steps for finding a new CEO, and except for McGwire, the members of executive board did not comment.

Most of Radoszewski's tenure happened during the pandemic, and the impact of his January 2020 restructuring plans were unclear.

The association's announcement on Radoszewski's leaving was brief and simply said that he was "no longer with" the association and thanked him for his work.

"Tony served our association during a period that included significant challenges, but [the association] remains as strong as ever," it said. "We extend Tony our best wishes in his future endeavors and extend our sincere thanks for his commitment and contributions."

His two-and-a-half-year tenure was considerably shorter than the three previous CEOs, including Carteaux, who held the job for 13 years, and Don Duncan and Larry Thomas, who ran the group for five years and 11 years, respectively.

Probably the most significant event during his administration was the cancellation of the NPE2021 trade show, a decision made in January 2021 that was forced by concerns that vaccines would not be widely available enough for the May event.

The association owns the show, which happens every three years and draws tens of thousands of attendees and 2,000 exhibiting companies to Orlando, Fla.'s convention center. The association generates about half of its operating budget from the show.

The decision to cancel NPE required a complicated wind-down and sometimes difficult conversations with exhibiting companies about their deposit payments and other matters. One source speculated that the board may have wanted to largely complete the wind-down of canceling NPE, which is North America's largest plastics event, before acting.

In a February interview, Radoszewski said the association was "financially stable" and had built up reserves before COVID-19 hit.

It also took out a loan in 2021 from the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help organizations struggling with the financial effects of the pandemic.

NPE is important for the association's companies, which get discounts for exhibiting at NPE. About 530 of the group's 830 member companies are either equipment makers or mold manufacturers, and NPE has traditionally been a very important sales platform for them.

When the association announced in July 2019 that Radoszewski had been hired to be its new CEO, its officers praised his work boosting membership by 60 percent during his 13 years running the Plastics Pipe Institute.

The association's chairman at the time, Wylie Royce, said Radoszewski was a "bit of a warrior" and predicted that could help with the legislative and public policy challenges facing the industry.

Shortly before Radoszewski's arrival, some large companies, including Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc., had left the association. They did that in response to pressure from environmental groups.

It's not clear what impact Radoszewski had increasing association membership, and executives who spoke about his departure did not talk about any public policy issues as a big reason driving the group to make the change.

One member company executive said the group just did not seem to be moving forward, apart from settling the NPE2021 issues.

"He lost the crowd a long time ago," the executive said. "It was time to make a change."